| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 468 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of |
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| 6 | 6 | | higher education, as a condition of participation in programs under |
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| 7 | 7 | | title IV of such Act, to establish a policy to award posthumous degrees |
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| 8 | 8 | | to certain deceased students, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | JANUARY15, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Ms. V |
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| 12 | 12 | | ELA´ZQUEZ(for herself, Ms. MALLIOTAKIS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. TONKO, |
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| 13 | 13 | | Mrs. C |
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| 14 | 14 | | HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, and Mrs. MCIVER) introduced the fol- |
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| 15 | 15 | | lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Work- |
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| 16 | 16 | | force |
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| 17 | 17 | | A BILL |
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| 18 | 18 | | To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require |
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| 19 | 19 | | institutions of higher education, as a condition of partici- |
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| 20 | 20 | | pation in programs under title IV of such Act, to estab- |
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| 21 | 21 | | lish a policy to award posthumous degrees to certain |
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| 22 | 22 | | deceased students, and for other purposes. |
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| 23 | 23 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 26 | 26 | | This Act may be cited as ‘‘Mel’s Law’’. 4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Feb 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H468.IH H468 |
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| 28 | 28 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •HR 468 IH |
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| 30 | 30 | | SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO AWARD POSTHUMOUS DEGREES. 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (a) P |
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| 32 | 32 | | OSTHUMOUSDEGREES.—Section 487(a) of the 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is 3 |
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| 34 | 34 | | amended by adding at the end the following: 4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | ‘‘(30) The institution certifies that the institu-5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | tion has established a policy to award posthumous 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | degrees to deceased students who— 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘(A) had been enrolled in a degree pro-8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | gram at the institution; 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘(B) died prior to completing such pro-10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | gram; and 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | ‘‘(C) at the time of death, were in aca-12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | demic standing consistent with the require-13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ments for graduation from such program, as 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | determined by the institution.’’. 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (b) A |
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| 47 | 47 | | CCREDITATIONCRITERIA.—Section 496(a) of 16 |
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| 48 | 48 | | the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)) 17 |
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| 49 | 49 | | is amended— 18 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through 19 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (8) as paragraphs (7) through (9), respectively; and 20 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol-21 |
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| 53 | 53 | | lowing: 22 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ‘‘(6) the standards for accreditation of the 23 |
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| 55 | 55 | | agency or association do not take into consideration 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | the number of posthumous degrees awarded by the 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | institution to deceased students;’’. 26 |
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| 58 | 58 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Feb 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H468.IH H468 |
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| 59 | 59 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 60 | 60 | | •HR 468 IH |
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| 61 | 61 | | (c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1 |
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| 62 | 62 | | this Act shall take effect on the date that is 1 year after 2 |
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| 63 | 63 | | the date of enactment of this Act. 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | Æ |
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| 65 | 65 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Feb 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H468.IH H468 |
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| 66 | 66 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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